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mid controversy, the city administration is continuing its plan to build a state-of-the-art cancer hospital and a 40-story palliative care center on a troubled plot of land adjacent to the Sumber Waras Hospital in Grogol, West Jakarta.

Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said recently that the cancer hospital would have at least 1,000 beds while the palliative care center, likely be the first of its kind in the country, would have about 500 units.

'€œThe prevalence of cancer is quite high in Indonesia. With the huge population, we should have at least 800 chemotherapy machines,'€ he said, adding that the country now has only 40 machines.

He said almost all patients had to come to Jakarta to get their cancer treated as most of the machines were in Jakarta'€™s hospitals.

Indonesia has only two cancer treatment centers, the Darmais Hospital in West Jakarta and the newly launched Pasar Minggu Hospital in South Jakarta. Ahok'€™s idea of building the cancer hospital has been hampered by a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report saying that the land purchase in Sumber Waras was superfluous.

In the BPK'€™s audit of the city administration'€™s 2014 financial report, the agency included a report on the city'€™s Rp 775.69 billion (US$55 million) purchase of the land. The BPK said the price was inflated and the land should have been purchased for the same taxable value of property (NJOP) as the surrounding buildings. The land, the agency report said, could have been bought for Rp 564.35 billion, which would have saved the city budget Rp 191 billion.

BPK handed over the Sumber Waras case to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in December last year. As of today, there is no news about any follow-up on the case.

Jakarta Health Agency head Kusmedi Priharto said previously that the city would continue with the plan regardless of the report.

'€œThey can continue [investigating] the report and we will continue the construction plan,'€ he said after meeting with an architectural consultant to discuss the hospital and palliative care center.

Kusmedi said that the city was now reviewing designs proposed by many different parties. '€œWe aim to start construction in 2017 and complete it in 2019,'€ he said.

He said that the need to have more cancer hospitals was quite urgent. '€œI do not know the exact number, but people need to wait for five to six months for surgery, seven months for radiation and three months for chemotherapy,'€ he said.

Kusmedi said that the adjacent Sumber Waras Hospital would also be allowed to cooperate with the cancer hospital.

The Sumber Waras Hospital, which has sat on almost seven hectares of land on Jl. Kyai Tapa for more than half a century, is a less prestigious hospital compared to others in West Jakarta, like the Siloam Hospital in Kebun Jeruk or the Harapan Kita Hospital in Slipi.

Kusmedi added that the palliative care center would be like an apartment compound. '€œThe building will have about 500 apartments with deluxe facilities like swimming pools and gym,'€ he said.

He added that the city administration aimed to take care of dying residents as well as possible. '€œAt least they can enjoy their lives in their last moments,'€ he said.

Palliative care is an approach to providing medical care for people with serious illnesses. It focuses on offering patients relief from the symptoms, pain, physical stress and mental stress of terminal conditions.

Housing and Administration Buildings Agency head Ika Lestari Aji said that her agency was now discussing the design concept of the area, which would consist of three main buildings.

'€œWe are considering having an investor who would build the hospital and the center and we would pay the investor back gradually,'€ she said, adding that it would be like the '€œoperate-build-transfer'€ schemes that were usually used in public-private partnerships.